Background of the
74th Troop Carrier Squadron, 434th Troop Carrier Group All U.S. tactical air support units in Great Britain were consolidated into
Ninth Air Force on 16 October 1943, under the command of Maj. Gen.
Lewis H. Brereton. At the same time the IX Troop Carrier Command was activated, having been constituted by USAAF Headquarters five days before its headquarters transferred to
Grantham Lodge where it remained until 20 September 1944, when it transferred to
Ascot, Berkshire, its final location in Europe. Its first headquarters was located at
RAF Cottesmore, where it took control of a provisional headquarters established by the
Eighth Air Force in September. The command's original
cadre came from Headquarters, 1st Troop Carrier Command (Provisional) established as a provisional headquarters by the
Eighth Air Force in September with six officers and three aircraft of the
315th Troop Carrier Group (the remainder of the group's aircraft and squadrons were on detached service in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations). On 1 October 1943 the 434th Troop Carrier Group became part of the provisional command and was the only group assigned. Twelve airfields were designated for the new command, each to house 40 C-47s and a like number of gliders:
RAF Fulbeck,
RAF Langar,
RAF Bottesford,
RAF Wakerley,
RAF Balderton,
RAF North Witham,
RAF Barkston Heath, RAF Cottesmore,
RAF North Luffenham,
RAF Saltby,
RAF Folkingham, and
RAF Woolfox Lodge. In October, 1943, Brigadier General Benjamin F. Giles became commanding officer. In November the
435th Troop Carrier Group at
RAF Welford was assigned, and command headquarters were moved to Grantham Lodge.
RAF Ramsbury,
RAF Aldermaston, and
RAF Greenham Common also became available as landing areas for tactical training with the
101st Airborne Division and later became troop carrier bases.
Combat operations Glider Its first wing, the
50th Troop Carrier Wing, became operational on 17 October 1943. A second wing, the
52d Troop Carrier Wing, arrived from Sicily on 17 February 1944. Its five groups had participated in the large airborne assault during
Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily and had flown combat jumps on a smaller scale in Italy. On 11 March 1944 the final troop carrier wing assigned to the command, the
53rd Troop Carrier Wing, arrived from the United States along with five groups that had just completed their operational training. The wings were realigned to provide the 53rd, tasked as the primary unit for glider operations, with the four groups already operational in February 1944 (434th through 437th), while the least experienced groups were assigned to the 50th Wing. The command grew to a total of 14 groups in April 1944 when the 315th was taken off transport duties in the Mediterranean and assigned two additional squadrons to bring it up to full
table of organization and equipment strength, and when the newly created
442d Troop Carrier Group arrived from the United States. These groups went into training for
Operation Overlord, the invasion of France, as they arrived in Britain. The groups of the 50th and 52nd Wings began intensive night formation training that included practice jumps with the airborne divisions assigned to them, which continued through April, when the division commanders decided to stop further unit jump training. The 53rd Wing began training at the beginning of March but had virtually no troop experience until mid-May, when they began a series of mock night operations to raise their level of training. Both the 315th and 442nd groups continued formation training until the end of May. Five groups also conducted training in night glider assaults during both April and May. By 1 June the command had approximately 1,200 C-47s and 1,400 gliders assigned, and 950 crews for each. At the end of February 1944, using equipment and personnel from the 52nd Wing, the command established a training unit for airborne division
pathfinders and the
aircrews that would deliver them. The Command Pathfinder School was redesignated the 1st Pathfinder Group (Provisional) in August 1944. IX Troop Carrier Command delivered both the
82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions in the
American airborne landings in Normandy on 6–7 June 1944. In August the command was attached to the
First Allied Airborne Army, which from 17–25 September 1944, landed both American divisions, the
British 1st Airborne Division, and the
Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade in the Netherlands during
Operation Market Garden. The 50th Wing moved to bases in France in September as well. In February and March 1945 the 52d and 53rd wings also deployed to bases in France, except for two groups of the 52nd assigned to support British airborne operations. The command carried out extensive formation training for
Operation Varsity, an airborne assault across the
Rhine River, and executed it on 24 March 1945, delivering the
17th Airborne Division. The groups of the 52nd Wing based in France returned to England to carry the
British 6th Airborne Division in the assault.
Return to the United States IX Troop Carrier Command transferred from the United Kingdom to the United States without equipment or personnel on 5 September 1945 to
Stout Field, Indiana, where it took over the personnel and equipment of
I Troop Carrier Command along with the command of troop carrier units in the United States. On 1 February 1946 command headquarters moved to
Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina, in preparation for inactivation, which took place 31 March 1946, when the command transferred its personnel and equipment to
Third Air Force, which assumed responsibility for troop carrier operations for
Tactical Air Command. On 8 October 1948 the
United States Air Force, now a separate military service, disbanded the command.
Notable Members Major
Vincent F. Harrington, former U.S. Representative from Iowa briefly served as a security officer. Flight Officer Dale Oliver, served as a Glider Pilot in the 434th Troop Carrier Group. Piloted a glider in combat operations in Normandy, Holland, and Germany. Later went on to be an assistant and primary animator for Disney, with credits including Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh. ==Lineage==